French Reflections

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Why We Need University Courses in Public Speaking
The endless, ongoing debates about admissions to elite universities have had many unfortunate effects. One is that they have focused attention so…
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David A. Bell
2
Playing Around with Machine Translation
There’s an old, old joke about machine translation. Supposedly, in the early 1960’s, IBM unveiled a computer program that could translate between…
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David A. Bell
The New French Far Right
My friend Peter Sahlins has an excellent article in the French newspaper Libération this week, in response to a nutty proposal by far-right essayist…
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David A. Bell
6
How to Put America's Elected Monarch on Trial
In the fall of 1792, France’s National Convention reached a momentous decision. Not only would former King Louis XVI stand trial, charged with 33…
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David A. Bell
2
Biden’s Charisma Deficit, and Why it Shouldn’t Matter (but Does).
Back when he was running for president, Joe Biden came to give a speech at my university. It wasn’t a particularly memorable appearance, but one part of…
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David A. Bell
7
The Death of the Magazine
Marty Peretz, the former owner of The New Republic, has just come out with a memoir, and it prompts some nostalgia, and some melancholy thoughts about…
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David A. Bell
Two New Opinion Pieces
Two New Short Articles During college, and for a couple of years afterwards, I hesitated between two career paths: academia and journalism. I spent a…
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David A. Bell
French Reflections
French Reflections
My writings, mostly but not entirely about French history

French Reflections

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